MEHNGA SINGH Vs. ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR, PANCHAYATS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CM allowed. A copy of the sanad filed by the petitioners is taken on record as Annexure P-3.

(2.) The order in challenge through this writ petition was an adjudication made on title under Section 11 of the Village Common Lands Act as applicable to Punjab. The reference for an adjudication came in proceedings for ejectment filed by the panchayat under Section 7 of the said Act. The claim of the panchayat was that the property was shamlat deh which vested with the panchayat and the respondents' possession of the property constituted an unauthorized occupation liable for ejectment. The authority through the impugned order found that the property was shamlat deh and the petitioners' occupation could not, therefore, be sustained.

(3.) The contention all along for the petitioners was that this property had been an evacuee property and notified as such and it was assigned by the Government through the functionaries under the Displaced Persons (Compensation & Rehabilitation) Act, 1954 and a sanad issued on 05.04.1971. A copy of the sanad was tiled before the Court as Annexure P-3. A copy of the document, which is filed here before this Court, was not tiled before the authority, but the justification for the petitioners was that the official from the gram panchayat himself had admitted that this property had been transferred by the Government in favour of the petitioners. The sanad issued by the petitioners contains several items including the property in dispute is khasra No. 15710 of an area of 1 kanal 16 marlas classified as Barani/III.